Bush Unveils "Strategy for Victory" in Iraq

This is from the Washington Post:

President Bush, facing increasing opposition to the war in Iraq, went on the offensive today, releasing a detailed plan for fighting the war and then delivering a major speech in an attempt to show the country that the administration has a clear vision for victory in Iraq.

In a 45-minute speech before a receptive audience at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Bush again rejected a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Iraq, saying conditions on the ground rather than "artificial timetables set by politicians in Washington" would dictate when American forces could return home.

He recounted improvements made by Iraqi security forces that he said would eventually lead to a U.S. withdrawal, although he warned that it would take "time and patience." Bush said the U.S. goal is for Iraqi forces to take the lead without "major foreign assistance," and he chronicled how Iraqi forces were fighting better and gaining more control of their embattled country. He said mistakes had been made in the training of Iraqi forces that have now been righted.

The speech, the first in a series the president will deliver in the run-up to the Dec. 15 elections in Iraq, broke no new ground in the increasingly impatient and vocal debate about U.S. strategy there.

A protester stands with a sign that reads ' Stay what course?' as one of the presidential helicopters arrives Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2005 in Baltimore, Md. President Bush who earlier delivered a speech at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis on his war policy arrived in Baltimore for a fundraiser for Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, a republican candidate who is running for the Senate. (AP Photo/Gail Burton)

In other words, stay the course.

The White House offensive comes as continued deadly violence in Iraq and the deaths of more than 2,000 U.S. troops and the wounding of 16,000 others chip away at Bush's popularity, now at its lowest level since he became president.

The more I read about Iraq, the more I realize that the Bush White House is living in a fantasyland, and that no-one in the administration has a clue as to how to resolve the issue of Iraq. Do we increase the troop levels, as what we should do if we really want to win this insurgency? Of course, military is pretty much used up, considering all the extended tours we've forced down both Army and National Guard soldier's throats. Don't even ask about the steadily dropping recruitment numbers the military is currently facing now. So if we can't get the troops necessary to fight and win this war, should we consider a draft. A draft opens up a whole other can of worms, considering war protests, draft dodgings, and chants of "hell no--we won't go!" Or should we "cut-and-run," using that time-honored technique through "Iraqinization" of the war. Hey, Nixon got us out of Vietnam through his own "Vietnamization" of the war--why not do the same with Iraq?

President Bush's tired old "stay the course" rhetoric is almost laughable. The Administration's own "National Strategy for Victory in Iraq," a 35-page strategy guide detailing how the White House plans to win the war in Iraq, is nothing more than recycled policy papers and stale press releases. I'm reminded of an old saying here--you can't polish a turd. The Bush White House has been polishing this turd for the past two years. When will the spinmeister's realize that the only thing that will come about from polishing a turd is that you'll get turd-poop on your hands?